Freya stormed into her bedroom, slammed the door behind her and leaned on it for support.
"Why..?"
She let herself slide down slowly until she was sitting on the ground and covered her mouth so nobody would hear her sob.
Gentle sunlight seeped through the curtains, warming her skin and reflecting off the motes that wafted through the air. Admiring the quiet beauty of the scene only made her more miserable; Sir Wulfweard would often find poetry in the simplest things.
"I'm sorry for your loss..."
A little startled, yet unsurprised by his timing, Freya leveled an angry scowl at the phantom that had just materialized in the room.
"Lord Gizamaluke, I presume?" she asked.
The apparition smirked.
"Time hasn't dulled your wit, Lady Freya."
"It doesn't take a bright intellect to understand why you're here," the knight retorted.
"Oh, really?" the god said. "Don't you think you're... jumping to conclusions a little too soon?"
Freya groaned in exasperation, letting her head bang listlessly against the door. "If you're going to mock me in my darkest hour, at least have the decency to do it properly..."
"What if I told you instead that I can make the pain go away?"
The dragoon languidly opened her eyes and raised an eyebrow at his statement.
"... At the cost of my soul, right?"
Gizamaluke folded his arms.
"Not at all, but if you're planning on selling it, you should do it while it's still yours."
"Is that a threat?" Freya riposted through gritted teeth.
"No... I'm just stating a fact," the ghost answered. "If you don't believe me, just take a look at yourself."
Reluctantly, the Burmecian obliged.
"What the..?" she muttered, realizing that the first symptoms of Trance had already manifested without her noticing.
"Your threshold has been lowering with each transformation, right?" Gizamaluke said. "And not only that; you've become so unstable that you can't even experience sorrow without risking an outburst."
"Okay, how do you know about this? Are you spying on me?" Freya brusquely asked. "Just tell me what you want already!"
"I seek to make amends for my father's crimes," the god declared. "His madness has already caused too much damage..."
"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed."
"I know you don't trust me, but you and your friend, Zidane, are in great danger..." he said, earning himself a blazing glare from the dragon knight. "I can treat you, purge the taint from your souls before it's too late..."
"Don't you dare pull him into your schemes!" she cut him off, rising to her feet as a surge of wild energy flooded her system.
CRASH!
Gizamaluke blinked, perplexed; Freya had intentionally missed his head by inches with a spirit javelin, shattering the balcony window next to him into pieces.
"Stay. Away. From my friends," she hissed, breathing heavily as the monster within her gained purchase. Debilitated by its growing influence, she lost her footing and banged her head against the door. She gritted her teeth and pulled her ears down as visions of everything she had lost relentlessly assaulted her mind.
"Freya, listen to me; the Beast is using your memories against yourself. What you're seeing is not real," Gizamaluke said, kneeling beside her. "Take deep, slow breaths, like this..."
Cornered, out of options, the dragoon grudgingly followed his instructions. Much to her surprise, the insidious whispering in her head relented considerably.
"Good, very good, now look around the room and describe an object you like. It can be anything."
"What..?"
"Trust me; as silly as it sounds, keeping your mind grounded on reality will help you ride out the attack," the ghost explained. "What about that picture? Can you describe it to me?"
Panting and sweating profusely, Freya craned a look at the oil painting on the wall.
"A city at night..." she wheezed.
"Can you elaborate a little further?"
She angled an annoyed glare at the ghost and went back to contemplating the illustration.
"A bustling town... under a sea of shimmering stars..." she said with mock solemnity. "They look like diamonds... strewn across black velvet... are you satisfied now?"
Gizamaluke chuckled at her irreverence.
"Such a strong spirit... no wonder you've survived this long," he commented. "Are you feeling better now?"
"Barely... but at least the visions are gone..." she mumbled. "I don't get it... what was that? how did you know it would work?"
"Wandering adrift in the realm of the dead taught me many things about the inner workings of the soul," he explained, rising to his feet. Freya averted her eyes, remembering their tragic encounter at his temple.
"Sorry for that..."
"What are you talking about? You saved me back then," he said as he walked toward the balcony. "Your intervention granted me the freedom I needed to follow my own path."
"Glad to hear that..." she commented, feebly straightening her back. "Can I ask you a question?"
"Two."
"How do you intend to clean up your father's mess?"
"This is not a safe place to discuss that," the god answered. "However, if you really want to know, we can talk about it once we flush that parasite out of your spirit."
"So you do want my help..."
"Only if you're interested."
"But why me?" the knight asked, using the door frame for support as she stood up. "Just take a good look at what I have become!"
Gizamaluke smiled.
"What I see is a strong, resolute woman who has remained true to herself in the face of overwhelming adversity," he answered as he placed his hand over the fractured window. "I'm not looking for a servant or a thrall, but for a righteous champion who will do the right thing no matter what."
A faint glow radiated from his fingertips, seeping through the cracks in the glass like quicksilver.
"Then you're wasting your time here," Freya retorted. "I've hurt plenty of people... taken more lives than I dare to count. You're looking for an ideal hero, and I'm just a washed-out killer."
"My dear, you really shouldn't ignore Fridgeir's advice like that..." Gizamaluke answered, craning a knowing look at her over his shoulder.
A lump formed in Freya's throat as Gizamaluke's ghostly form started dissipating like a dream.
"W-What did you just say..?" she stammered, suddenly feeling light-headed.
"I have unlocked my father's reliquary for you," he answered. "Open it and follow the obsidian star to my domain. There you'll find the answers you seek."
"Wait... wait!" she yelled, but he was already gone. "Dammit!"
She pounded the wall and sat on the floor, utterly frustrated. It took her a while to notice that the broken window had been restored to pristine condition.
Knock, knock, knock!
"Freya? Are you in there?" Mikoto asked from the hallway. She sounded so worried and scared that the dragoon got up as fast as she could and let her into the room.
"Mikoto! What's wrong?" the knight asked.
"He's out of control!" the genome exclaimed.
"Drat... the barrier won't contain him much longer..." Steiner spat.
An inhuman roar echoed across the prison tower.
"I've never seen him this pissed before..." Eiko said, gripping her catalyst flute like a lifeline. "Any ideas?"
Consumed by his Trance, Zidane savagely pounded on the door of his cell, the ground quaking with each impact.
BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!
"This is my fault..." Garnet mumbled, trembling from head to toe.
A particularly brutal strike fractured the stone around the door frame, startling everyone.
"My Queen, Princess! This place isn't safe anymore!" the Pluto Knight exclaimed, drawing his broadsword.
"The fuck are you implying, Steiner?!" Eiko squawked. "I ain't going anywhere!"
BLAM!
"Guys! I've found her!" Mikoto shouted, climbing the spiral staircase with Freya in tow.
"What's going on?!" the Burmecian asked, alarmed by the racket.
"Freya... it's Zidane!" Garnet exclaimed. "He flew into a rage over a casualty report and locked himself in there!"
BLAM!
"Holy shi-!" Eiko squeaked as the frenzied genome punched a gaping hole in the door, destroying the magical glyph that kept it sealed. "Freya, if you know how to stop him, now would be a great time to tell us!"
"It's just as Gizamaluke mentioned..!" the dragoon thought. She took a deep breath and stared into Zidane's blazing eyes. "Hey, Monkey Tail! It's me, Rat Face!"
"We've already tried talking to him!" Garnet said. "He just won't listen!"
"Do you think we can subdue him if we work together?" Freya proposed.
"Um... I don't mean to rain on your parade, darling, but he's just dispelled a seal designed to contain Eidolons with his fucking fists!" Eiko exclaimed.
"What about Beatrix? Where is she?" the dragoon asked.
Both summoners cringed hard at the mention of the general.
"Too late! Here he comes!" Mikoto yelled.
CRACK!
With a final, decisive blow, Zidane ripped the door from its hinges and charged at his friends.
"Your Majesty! Please, calm do-!" Steiner pleaded, only to get savagely punched across the room. He crashed into a column and fell limply to the floor, bleeding profusely from the mouth.
"Adelbert!" Garnet shrieked, rushing to his side. The yelling attracted her husband's attention, and he lunged at her with a nightmarish grin on his face.
"That's enough!" Freya barked, knocking him off-course with a tackle. Zidane flashed her a ferocious glare, and it was at that moment that she knew she was done for.
"Nononono!" Eiko thought, readying a Protect spell as fast as she could.
Without missing a beat, Zidane grabbed the Burmecian by the collar and smashed her into a wall, but Eiko's timely enchantment absorbed most of the impact, saving her life.
"Zidane..." Freya croaked as the genome hoisted her into the air by the neck. "Don't let it... control you..!"
"There's no us anymore," he answered in a terrifying voice, creating a swirling sphere of annihilation magic with his other hand. "... ONLY ME!"
"Brother, no!"
Zidane tried to blast her with his spell, only to discover that Mikoto was restraining his arm with her psychokinesis.
"Please..." she begged, barely holding onto consciousness due to the tremendous strain the technique was putting on her brain.
"OUT OF MY WAY!" the king bellowed as he violently ripped his arm free, causing his sister to faint and hit her head on the floor.
"Miko!" Eiko shrieked, rushing to get her out of the killzone.
Time seemed to freeze for Garnet; one moment she was dancing and partying with her family and friends, the next she was healing a fatally wounded Steiner, covered in scars, racing to avert yet another world war and the love of her life was trying to kill everyone she knew.
"Zidane, put Freya down!" she shouted as she molded her magic into the darkest curse she knew, but he ignored her. "I SAID PUT HER DOWN!"
FLASH!
The genome howled in agony as Garnet's spell robbed him of his eyesight, forcing him to experience an unspeakable pain. The summoner covered her mouth and teared up, horrified by her own outburst.
"Sorry for this..." Freya muttered, breaking free of Zidane's grasp with a sharp blow to his elbow joint.
TWHACK!
Blinded and screaming with rage, the possessed king launched a killer haymaker at where he expected the Burmecian's head to be, but his fist only succeeded in getting stuck in the wall.
"WHERE ARE YOU?!" he roared, pulling his hand out of the brickwork along with a generous serving of rubble.
CRACK!
"UWAAAARGHHH!" Zidane screamed; Freya had crippled his leg with a kick to the side of the knee. Both summoners cringed and looked away, unable to stomach the situation.
"Help me!" Freya yelled, tackling the genome to the ground and putting him in a precarious submission hold.
"Y-Yes! Sorry!" Eiko stuttered, enhancing the Burmecian's strength with a Might spell. Steiner tried to get up and join the brawl but Garnet stopped him before he did something stupid.
"Rest yourself Adelbert, we've got this," Garnet said, helping the knight to a sitting position and leaning him against the column. She then ran up to her husband, knelt beside him and gently held his face in her hands. "Honey, it's me, Dagger..."
"RAAAGH, LET ME GO!" he bellowed, nearly biting off her fingers.
"Try something else... jog his memory!" Freya exclaimed.
"Ah... um..." Garnet hesitated, thinking as fast as she could. The solution came to her in the form of a long-forgotten song.
"Can't hold him any longer!" the Burmecian desperately yelled.
The queen cleared her throat.
"Alone for a while I've been searching through the dark..."
"Huh..?"
"For traces of the love you left inside my lonely heart..."
"What the..?" Freya uttered, realizing that the king had suddenly become much more docile. "Garnet, it's working! Keep that up!"
"To weave by picking up the pieces that remain..."
"Melodies... of life..." Zidane feebly sang along. "Love's... lost refrain..."
"You remembered!"
"Garnet..?" he said before getting assaulted by the visions all over again. "Please... kill me... before I... rgggh!"
"No! We'll make it out of this together, you hear me?!" the dragon knight barked. "Now do as I say; take a slow, deep breath!"
"I... can't..."
"You've slain dragons with your freaking hands! Of course you can!" she countered, trying her hardest to keep him pinned. "Do it for Garnet! Do it for your son!"
Trembling in excruciating pain, the genome focused on his love for his family and regained enough self-control to follow Freya's orders.
"Excellent! Now exhale!"
Zidane let out a long, quivering exhalation.
"Good, good! Again!"
The queen watched them in awe; with each repetition, her husband's aura decreased in intensity, making it almost bearable to be near him.
"Um... I'm going to ask you something a little strange now..." Freya improvised, realizing that Gizamaluke's method had to be adapted to Zidane's... new circumstances. "Describe Garnet's perfume... what is it made of?"
"The hell, Freya..?"
"Trust me, this will help you," the Burmecian answered, and then she added in an audacious tone: "Besides, this should be easy for someone with your... talents..."
Garnet blushed and averted her eyes, not too keen on remembering that aspect of her husband's past.
"... I hate you..." Zidane grumbled under his breath and then caught a whiff of the queen's scent. "Red roses... lemon... honeycomb, too..."
"Honeycomb? I knew there was nectar involved but hot damn, Tribal! I'm impressed!" Freya exclaimed, cautiously loosening her grip on his arm.
"Told you... babe connoisseur," the genome mumbled, punctuating his boast with a smirk. "... Made you say damn..."
Freya blinked twice and laughed.
"I guess you did," she conceded. "Welcome back, old friend."
"We're... not that old..." he mumbled as he succumbed to exhaustion. "I'm... so sorry..."
"It's okay..." Garnet whispered, stroking his hair until he fell asleep. "I'm sorry too."
It was almost evening when Garnet finally found Freya. She was sitting on the grass under a lone cherry tree, in the exact same spot where Sir Wulfweard had entrusted her with the fate of her kingdom. Everything around her was in ruins, ravaged by Zidane during the invasion. Alexandria's golden outline gleamed in the distance, illuminated by the last rays of a dying sun.
"May I?"
The knight nodded, and the queen sat next to her.
"How are they?"
"Miko's fine, Zid alternates between bouts of consciousness and feverish nightmares, and we've managed to stabilize Adelbert... that blow nearly cut him in half," she said, and then she produced a small, silver flask. "... Want some?"
"... That's no rose tea, isn't it?" Freya joked.
"Blank's wedding gift," the summoner stated, handing her the canteen. "It ages surprisingly well, so I've been saving it for a... special occasion."
The dragoon smirked, took a long swig and returned the flask to its owner.
"Oooh... that sure hit the spot..." she said, shuddering a little. "Thank you."
"You're welcome..." Garnet answered. Emboldened by Freya's reaction, she tried to imitate her, only to end up burning her throat with the first sip. "Ramuh's beard! This is even stronger than I remembered..."
"If you plan to start drinking, bandit-brewed moonshine isn't the wisest of choices," her friend quipped.
The summoner chuckled a little and then let out a long, utterly disheartened sigh.
"I'm sorry about your teacher... he was a good man."
Freya hugged her knees and gazed absently at the horizon for a while.
"... Wulfweard and Fratley were the closest thing I had to a family," she said, almost in a whisper. "I thought I already knew how it felt to lose it all... boy, was I wrong."
Garnet lowered her eyes and softly rested her head on the dragoon's shoulder.
"You know... even if we haven't seen each other that much lately, Zid, Li'l Tot and I have always considered you part of our family," she said, capturing the knight's attention. "... I can't give you back what you lost, but I can promise you one thing; as long as one of us still breathes, you'll always have a place to call home."
Freya closed her eyes and choked back a sob.
"Thank you... you have no... thank you," she stammered, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. "I'm... I'm leaving tomorrow."
"What..?"
The Burmecian showed her a flat, round obsidian shard encased in a golden frame. It was thin enough to be translucid and fit snugly in the palm of her hand.
"Is that..?"
"Yes..."
"May I?"
"M-hm."
The summoner took the jewel and flipped it around, looking for signs of its purpose. It was positively ancient and radiated a faint, yet ominous aura.
"Strange... I was expecting some sort of summoning gem," she said. "How does it work?"
"It's a magical lens, capable of revealing the invisible," Freya explained. "Hold it in front of you and look at the sky, right where I'm pointing."
Garnet followed her instructions and soon she found herself staring at something that defied all logic.
"A phantom star..."
"It marks the path to Gizamaluke's realm," the knight explained.
"May I ask you why, Freya?" the queen said, lowering the artifact. "I thought you didn't trust him."
"I don't... but he appeared to me today, taught me what you saw on that tower," she answered. "He claimed to know the truth about Trance... and how to cure it."
"Of course he did..." the summoner sighed, fidgeting with the relic.
"Listen, I really don't want to do this, but my... condition keeps worsening by the day," Freya stated. "I've already hurt innocent people... I can't allow that to happen again."
"I understand..." the queen muttered. "... Did he mention wanting something in return?"
"No..." the knight said, much to Garnet's disbelief. "I mean, it's obvious he has ulterior motives, but he promised to help me regardless of what I do afterwards."
"No strings attached? Yeah, sure," the summoner ironized. "Nobody does that for free, least of all a fallen god with an agenda."
"There's more..." Freya added, choosing her next words as carefully as she could. "He warned me moments before the... incident that Zidane needed immediate treatment. If what Gizamaluke says is true, and I'm starting to believe it is, then this time we might lose him for good."
A violent shiver ran down Garnet's spine.
"Wait... are you implying you want to take the king of Alexandria, my husband, on a road trip to some alien place controlled by a wild card god whom you've already killed once just because he taught you breathing techniques? In the middle of a world war, no less?"
"... Would you prefer to stand by and watch him become an animal?"
The summoner stood up, fists clenched.
"I... I need to think..." she stammered, feeling utterly powerless.
The knight lowered her eyes and nodded. Garnet turned back and started walking downhill, but stopped once she realized the true extent of the damage done to the Burmecian garden; Freya's tree was literally the last one standing.
"... I'll provide you with the means to reach your destination," the queen promised, giving her friend one last look. "But please... give me time to try and talk with Zid about this."